


When the Lights Go Out

by martiansourcream



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Josh is Josh, Light Angst, M/M, Music, Night, Rooftops, Tyler is very lonely, a lot of TOP songs mentions, he likes aliens, he writes songs, idk how to exlain, not relationship angst, space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-08-28 11:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8443510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/martiansourcream/pseuds/martiansourcream
Summary: A college AU where Tyler is a lonely freshman who writes songs. As for Josh... well, you will see.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is just something based on a dream I had a while ago. I hope you like it :)
> 
> The title of the fic is a reference to two not-TOP songs that I like (Stay with Me by Akcent, Shooting Star by Owl City).
> 
> Disclaimer (just in case): Tyler and Josh belong to themselves. All songs in the fic belong to Twenty One Pilots.

It all started one hot night.

Tyler was in his dorm room, along with about six other people who were all chatting, laughing and having fun. Tyler, however, didn't want to have fun. What he did want was to sleep, since it was late and he had a class early next morning. 

He did try to tell everyone to leave; it was his room after all. However, his roommates and their friends just told him things like "Oh, Tyler, just stop being so boring!" and "College is about fun, not sleep!".

After what seemed like a hundredth try, Tyler gave up. He just got up and walked out of the room. Nobody seemed to have noticed.

Tyler let out an angry sigh. It wasn't even the first time this sort of thing happened. For the entire first week of college, his roommates managed to get someone for sleepovers every night. One time they even watched porn - ugh!

Tyler stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans and went down the corridor to the stairs. Their campus building was quite high - seven floors, as far as Tyler could remember. He decided to walk to the topmost floor, just out of nothing to do and nowhere to sleep.

The seventh floor was quite different from the second floor where Tyler's room was. This one seemed more artsy: blue wallpapers, music band posters attached to the walls. And it was slightly cooler here compared to the hotness of Tyler's dorm.

Tyler walked down the corridor, looking at the doors as he passed them. Most doors had names of people who lived there written on them. Some had posters or stickers. One door caught Tyler's attention: it was covered from top to bottom with not only band posters, but also pictures of aliens.

"Why does he have alien pictures?" Tyler thought, cocking an eyebrow. "Or she..."

He searched the door for a name.

"OK. Joshua Dun. Why does this Joshua Dun have pictures of aliens?..."

He kept walking until he came across a ladder that led up to the ceiling. Taking a closer look, Tyler saw that there was some sort of a trap door on the top.

"It probably leads to the roof," Tyler thought.

Just out of curiosity and not having much else to do, he climbed up the stairs and pushed at the door. To Tyler's surprise, it wasn't locked.

Tyler climbed up and out of the building. He was now standing on a flat part of the roof. Cool wind ruffled his hair, and the air was so fresh. Tyler took a deep breath and raised his head up. He saw a deep black sky filled with a countless number of bright stars. The view was so breathtaking, Tyler couldn't make himself look away.

He decided against going back to the suffocating noisy dormitory, and instead just sat down on the roof and watched the stars, enjoying the cool and the quiet. Only when the sky began to get lighter, Tyler went back to his room to avoid getting in trouble.

***

Then it just went on for every night. After midnight, Tyler would quietly slip out of his room and go to the roof. At first he just sat there and looked at the sky, and thought about everything that was happening in his quiet, antisocial college life. Sometimes he thought about the people who lived just below the roof. Tyler would prefer to have a room there instead. Judging by the doors, the students here were way cooler.

And as Tyler sat and thought , songs began to come to his mind. It was his high school hobby, writing songs. He even was a part of the school band back then. Lately, however, Tyler didn't have much inspiration and time for songs.

Now he did.

So he started to bring a pen and a notebook to the roof with him, and write the songs down. In two weeks, he'd written several. He especially liked a song about childhood nostalgia, but he hadn't come up with a name for it yet. It was a good song, really. It described how much Tyler missed home, and how really depressing college was for him. Here, he didn't have any friends, and felt so stressed out.

 _Stressed out_.

A good name for the song, Tyler thought.

And when Tyler felt particularly stressed out, he would sleep on the roof, setting his phone alarm just in time before dawn.

***

One day, Tyler decided it was time to try out some of his new songs on ukulele. It was just for himself, to see how they would turn out.

His room, of course, was not an option. There was a party there yet again. So Tyler just grabbed his notebook and ukulele and went to his favourite lonely spot of inspiration.

He sat on the roof under the stars, playing and singing quietly so not to disturb those who lived on the seventh floor. Tyler was so engaged in his performance that he hadn't heard the trap door opening. Nor the footsteps nearby.

" _Wish we could turn back time_  
_To the good old days,_  
_When our momma sang us to sleep,_  
_But now we're stressed out!_ "

Tyler played the last note and let out a deep sigh.

"That was very cool," he heard someone say.

Tyler jumped in surprise. Was it somebody from the school staff? Or had he woken up someone from the seventh floor? Were they going to kick him out now?

He turned his head and stared with huge scared eyes at somebody who turned out to be a guy.

A guy with bright blue hair.

A very good-looking guy with bright blue hair.

"Who are you?" Tyler asked quietly, raising an eyebrow.

"I guess I should be the one asking," the guy said. "But well... I'm Josh, I live just under this roof."

"I'm Tyler," Tyler muttered, searching in his head for people named Josh. He had seen this name a short while ago, but where... Then he noticed the alien print on the guy's T-shirt, and it all clicked into place.

"You are... Joshua Dun, right?" Tyler asked.

"Oh well, I didn't know I'm that famous," Josh grinned, running a hand through his hair. "It's just Josh, really."

Tyler nodded.

"So, Tyler. Why are you singing on the roof?" Josh asked, sitting down by Tyler.

Tyler shrugged. He just met this guy. He couldn't just start complaining about his life to him.

"I just like the night sky, you know? It's inspiring," Tyler decided to answer.

"Oh," Josh nodded. "So do I. When you look up there, and see all these stars... who knows who or what might be out there."

"Space dust. Particles," Tyler suggested.

"Damn it, use your imagination, Tyler!" Josh snorted.

Tyler shrugged again. What did Josh want from him, anyway? He had come up here for some reason, right?

"Why did you come here?" Tyler decided to ask.

"Well. It's not that one often hears ukulele at midnight... And, it was actually a good song, and I wanted to see who was playing," Josh gave him a warm smile. 

He looked so cute when he smiled, Tyler thought.

"Hm. Okay. Thanks," he nodded, turning to look at the sky again. He didn't want Josh to think that he was staring at him.

"Could you play it again?" Josh asked.

"What? The song?"

"Yeah."

"Well..." Tyler ruffled his hair. He had only sang in front of his family and people from high school before. Never on the roof. Never in front of somebody he'd just met.

But who knows, perhaps he should give it a try.

"OK." Tyler took his ukulele and cleared his throat. Then, he ran his hand over the strings and started to play. And Josh listened. At the end, he even sang the chorus along with Tyler.

"Wow," Josh sighed when Tyler finished.

"Do you like it?" Tyler wondered.

"Of course I do," Josh smiled.

Tyler looked away. He felt shy all of sudden. It's one thing when a friend or a member of family says nice things to you. Maybe it's just because they are supposed to say these things, so you don't feel bad.

It's completely another when a stranger does it.

Tyler felt himself blush lightly.

"Are you going to stay here all night?" Josh lightly nudged Tyler's shoulder.

"Just until dawn," Tyler said.

"Do you mind if I stay, too?"

Wait. Josh actually wanted to stay with him?

"Well, no. Why would I?" Tyler said.

"Hm. Just let me bring a blanket, OK?"

Josh smiled and went away down the trap door. He came back in a minute with a star-patterned blanket.

"Why do we need a blanket?" Tyler asked, slightly confused.

"Because it's cold here, of course," Josh replied. "Aren't you cold?"

"Um. Nope," Tyler said. He enjoyed the cool air up here, actually. Cold wasn't a problem for him.

"Yes, you are. How can you not be?" Josh raised an eyebrow.

Before Tyler could say anything, the blanket was thrown snugly over his shoulders.

"Hey, why..." Tyler started to object.

However, when Josh sat down by his side and covered himself with the other half of the blanket, Tyler realized that he didn't feel like objecting at all.

"It's so you don't freeze yourself," Josh explained, and grinned.

Tyler found that the warmth wasn't so unwelcome after all. The blanket was was soft and felt rather nice. And Josh... well, he was just Josh. He was warm in a good way. Not in a hot-dormitory-packed-with-people way. Rather in a sharing-a-blanket-with-somebody-I-like way. 

Wait. Did he already like Josh? They had just met what, twenty minutes ago?

And yet here Tyler was. And he wanted to move closer to Josh, which was exactly what he did. If Josh didn't want to sit so close to him, he would just move away, Tyler decided.

Except that Josh didn't move away. He instead put one of his arms around Tyler and half-hugged him.

Tyler's heart fluttered in his chest. He let out a quiet sigh and gently rested his head on Josh's shoulder.

He didn't know how long they sat there, watching the night sky. Tyler felt cozy, and warm, and there was that fuzzy feeling in his chest that was rather nice. He must have dozed off at some point, because when he opened his eyes, the sky was already a light indigo, and Josh was whispering:

"Tyler, wake up! Come on, wake up, Tyler!"

Tyler raised his head and shook it, chasing the sleep away.

"Well. Thank you for the blanket and all that, but now I have to go," he said, and, though he really didn't want to, he got up and started to pack his notebook and ukulele.

"Do you come here every night?" Josh asked.

"Yeah," Tyler nodded, turning to look at Josh.

"OK," Josh said. He stood up, too, and folded the blanket. "So. See you tomorrow then?"

"Alright," Tyler smiled.

Josh smiled back and went to the trap door.

Even when he was gone, Tyler didn't move. He just stood on the roof for a while, his brain slowly taking in everything that happened that night. He met somebody new. Somebody who might become his friend. Or, perhaps, something more?... Tyler stared at the trap door, like it was able to give him an answer.

Then, Tyler climbed down to the seventh floor and began walking back to his room, his heart beating fast and his head full of Josh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be published in a few days, so stay tuned :)


	2. Chapter 2

When Tyler came to the roof next night, Josh was already there. When he saw Tyler, he waved and smiled at him. Tyler felt warmth spreading in his chest.

"Hey Josh," he greeted him, smiling back.

"Hi Tyler," Josh said. "What's up?"

"Nothing much. I just want to play some of the other songs I've written," Tyler told Josh, sitting down by him.

"Hm, how cool. What are they about?" Josh asked, moving a bit closer to Tyler. Tyler wondered if this was intentional. 

"Let's see," he began, opening his notebook. "OK, so, this one is called "Migraine". I think I had a headache when I was writing it..."

"If you had a headache, why did you write songs? Why didn't you sleep?" Josh wondered.

"Firstly, writing songs is the best cure for my headaches," Tyler said.

"And secondly?"

"And secondly... well, I don't really have a place to sleep," Tyler shrugged indefinitely.

"Hey. Don't you have a room?" Josh gave him what might have been a concerned look.

"I do. But I don't," Tyler sighed.

He didn't really feel like talking about this. Out of his dorm and noisy roommates, and roof and Josh, he would take the latter, thank you very much.

"So. The song," Tyler made an announcing gesture with his hand and took out his ukulele. His fingers lightly pulled at the strings. 

" _Am I the only one I know,_  
_Waging my wars behind my face and above my throat?_  
_Shadows will scream that I'm alone..._ "

When he finished, he turned to look at Josh. His eyes were on Tyler, and he seemed captivated and caught in the song.

"Tyler," Josh said quietly. "How can you make songs that are so beautiful and so sad at the same time?"

Tyler flushed at the compliment.

"I... I don't know. Honestly," he murmured. 

"I've heard that music describes its creator," Josh went on. "Like, even if the song is not about the person's actual emotions, you can still see it."

"So," Tyler half-laughed. "My songs are sad, which says that I am a sad person."

"And beautiful," Josh added, smiling. "Don't forget the beautiful part."

Why did Josh keep saying nice things to him? Was he even honest? Maybe he just felt sorry for Tyler. Well, Tyler could see himself from Josh's point of view: a guy who sits alone on the roof all night along, writing and singing sad songs. Really, not cool at all.

However, when Tyler glanced at Josh, he saw nothing in his eyes but admiration and honesty. And maybe a little concern, too.

"Umm... thank you," Tyler gave Josh a nervous smile.

"Not at all," Josh said. "Do you have any other songs?"

"I do. But I would rather talk," Tyler answered. He wanted to find out more about Josh. "Why do you like aliens, for instance?"

"Because they are cool," was Josh's reply. "I just really like the idea of life far away from here. Imagine a planet in another galaxy, similar to the Earth but different. And those who inhabit it, what are they like? Maybe they can travel in time, or teleport, or read minds. Maybe we could learn so many good things from them."

"But it isn't very nice to read somebody else's mind," Tyler noticed. "Wouldn't it be like reading a person's diary?"

"Come on, Tyler. Don't you ever want to know what's on somebody's mind?" Josh smirked and looked at him expectantly.

"You," Tyler thought. "I want to know what's on your mind."

He didn't say it out loud, of course, and just gave a shrug.

"I want to go out there someday, and explore on," Josh said, pointing at the starry sky. "But we need better technology for that. So, for the moment, I am stuck with an Astronomy major."

"What year are you?" Tyler asked. Jeez, he didn't even know how old Josh was.

"Freshman," Josh said. "And you?"

"Same. How come we don't have any classes together?" Tyler wondered. "And why do we live on different floors?"

"Probably because we have a different major. Let me guess, yours is Music, right?" Tyler nodded. "And they probably put us on the uppermost floor because it's closer to space."

Tyler smiled.

They sat in silence next to each other for a while.

"Hey Tyler," Josh said. "I've just remembered something. My roommate is staying in the hospital room tonight, so, would you like to sleep in my room? I mean, you should get some proper sleep."

"Umm..." Tyler murmured. He didn't need a bed, honestly. He liked it here, on the roof. And besides, he didn't want to bother Josh.

"I don't want to bother you," Tyler said.

"What? Why would you? It's completely fine," Josh sounded surprised.

"But that's your room."

"And?"

Tyler didn't know what else to say, so he decided to follow Josh to his room. He did want to know what it looked like inside.

They came to the door that Tyler noticed a while ago, the one with alien pictures. Josh opened it and made an inviting gesture with his hand. Tyler smiled and walked inside. Josh followed him and closed the door.

"Welcome to my place," he grinned.

Tyler looked around. The room looked like it was divided in two. One half was colourful and bright. The walls had many posters on them: rock bands, planets, stars, aliens (of course), something with the X-files.

"You watch the X-files?" Tyler asked.

"It's my favourite," Josh said.

Everything on Josh's half was in a various state of mess. The bed was unmade, the star-patterned blanket was lying on the floor, the desk was covered in notebooks, magazines and cutouts. The other half of the room, however, was the definition of tidiness. But, even though everything there was clean and organised, this side looked boring to Tyler.

"How do you guys get along?" he wondered aloud.

"What are you talking about? We fight all the time," Josh snorted. "It's a good thing that he's usually out. He only comes here to sleep and complain."

"Your part is cool though," Tyler smiled. He wished he could move in here, because, honestly, this place felt so much more like home than his own room on the second floor. 

"Thanks," Josh said. "But it's a mess."

"A cool mess."

"Perhaps," Josh shrugged, and then laughed.

Tyler came to sit on the tidy bed of Josh's roommate. It was so neatly made, he felt bad for making cringes appear on the blanket. 

"Well, that's your place for tonight, so feel like at home," Josh grinned, turning the light off and hopping onto his own bed.

"I will try," Tyler nodded. He set his ukulele by the bed and laid down on the pillow. After spending so many nights on the roof, the bed felt so soft and welcome that Tyler couldn't help but sigh.

"Thank you, you know," he said to Josh. "For letting me stay here."

"My pleasure," Josh smiled. "Night, Tyler."

"Night, Josh."

Tyler turned to face the light green wall and fell asleep immediately. He dreamed of space and planets that night, and Josh.


	3. Chapter 3

They now met on the roof every day. Or every night, to be specific. And it was always similar. First of all, Josh would ask Tyler to play something. Even if Tyler didn't have anything new, he would play one of his earlier songs. Josh didn't mind. He always complimented his music (which made Tyler blush) and often complimented Tyler along with it (which made Tyler blush even more). They would then go to Josh's room, if his roommate was away. If he was in the room, they stayed on the roof all night along.

As much as Tyler liked to sleep in an actual bed, he preferred the roof. There was nothing better for him than sitting next to Josh under the night sky, talking about everything there was to talk about. Or, even better, dozing with his head resting on Josh's shoulder. When that happened, Josh would wrap his arm around Tyler, pulling him closer, and Tyler felt he could melt from this.

Tyler wished he could show Josh how important he was to him. Even when Tyler had particularly stressful days, and felt incredibly tired and lonely, he thought about Josh and it helped him to get through the day.

To be honest, he thought about Josh almost all the time. Even if he wanted to stop, he wouldn't be able to. Tyler thought about Josh's appearance: his blue hair, shirts with prints, his smile, the tattoo of a tree on his arm. He thought about Josh's words and personality: his dreams about space, his fascination with aliens, his compliments for Tyler's songs, his genuine kindness towards Tyler. He thought about Josh's hugs, he thought what it would be like to touch Josh's hair, to hug him himself, to kiss him.

God, he wanted to kiss him.

But Tyler was afraid that Josh didn't want it. Maybe he was just being friendly. Maybe Josh was just feeling sorry for him. Tyler didn't want to ruin their friendship with a careless move. 

Therefore, he decided to express his feelings for Josh in his own way. Tyler decided to write a song.

***

In one of his classes, they were talking about the way television influences people's minds, especially news and advertising. The lecturer was telling the students about a piece of news that sounded so much like a lie that Tyler couldn't help but write in his notebook:

" _We don't believe what's on TV_ ".

And somehow, rhymes started to come to his head. He kept writing:

" _Because it's what we want to see,_  
_And what we want we know we can't believe_  
_We have all learned to kill our dreams._ "

"Mr Joseph!"

Oh. It looks like somebody is calling his name.

"Yes?" Tyler said, staring at the lecturer with scared eyes.

"I told everyone to put their pens down and watch the video. Why aren't you paying attention?"

"I..." Tyler mumbled. He didn't know what to say. He honestly didn't know. His mind was far away from the class.

"Next time you will get extra homework. Please kindly get your head out of the clouds."

Tyler nodded and sighed. Even as he stared blankly at the whiteboard, where the video was playing, his head was still in the clouds, where, honestly, it was supposed to be.

***

After the classes ended, Tyler didn't go to his room, not even to leave his bag. He didn't head to have lunch with everyone else: it could wait. He instead found a nice spot outside, under a large tree, and sat down onto the grass. He took out his Social Media studies notebook, where a part of his song was, and a pen. 

Tyler looked around twice, checking that no one was nearby, and rested his head against the trunk. He closed his eyes and thought of Josh. His mind gave him the words, and he wrote them down with his eyes still closed.

" _I need to know that when I fail you'll still be here,_  
_'Cause if you stick around I'll sing you pretty sounds_  
_And we'll make money selling your hair..._ "

***

"So, Tyler. Anything new for today?"

Tyler was full of anxiety. He looked at the sky, which seemed even more beautiful that it usually was: it was completely cloudless, and the moon was full. The stars were shining as brightly as ever. A perfect night, honestly.

Despite this, Tyler felt like one tight ball of nerves.

"Relax, Tyler," he thought to himself. "You haven't even mentioned his name in the song. Maybe he won't even notice."

"Um... Tyler?" Josh nudged his shoulder lightly.

"Oh. Um, yeah. I have a new song."

"Awesome. Can you play it for me?" Josh smiled.

"Yeah. Sure."

Tyler took out his ukulele, closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath.

"Hey, Tyler. Is there something wrong? You look tense," Josh asked, sounding worried.

"No, no. I'm fine," Tyler answered hurriedly.

He checked that the ukulele was tuned, and started to play and sing.

" _We don't believe what's on TV,_  
_Because it's what we want to see,_  
_And what we want we know we can't believe._  
_We have all learned to kill our dreams._ "

Tyler closed his eyes and tried his best not to think of Josh, and failed. Then he tried not to think of Josh _too much_ , and failed again. So he just went on:

" _I need to know that when I fail you'll still be here,_  
_'Cause if you stick around I'll sing you pretty sounds,_  
_And we'll make money selling your hair._

 _I don't care what's in your hair,_  
_I just wanna know what's on your mind,_  
_I used to say, "I wanna die before I'm old",_  
_But because of you I might think twice..._ "

By the time Tyler finished, his heart was hammering in his chest so quickly and loudly that he was afraid that Josh would hear it. He felt so nervous, he couldn't even look at Josh. Tyler instead closed his eyes and faced the sky.

"Well, it's a beautiful song. And touching, too," he heard Josh say. "And is it... dedicated to anyone in particular?"

Tyler took a deep breath.

"You," he whispered. "It's dedicated to you."

He just sat quietly, waiting for what Josh will say. Maybe he will laugh at Tyler. Or say something rude. Or maybe... maybe he will just walk away, back to his room, and never come to meet Tyler on the roof again.

Has he still ruined everything?

"Tyler," he heard Josh say.

Tyler didn't move.

"Tyler. Come on. Look at me, Tyler."

It took all of Tyler's strength to force himself to turn his head, open his eyes and look at Josh.

And Josh... Josh looked happy. His eyes were bright and full of warmth, and there was that wide smile on his face that Tyler liked so much.

Tyler thought his heart stopped for a second.

"You know, no one has ever written a song for me before," Josh said.

Tyler was not sure how to react to that. So he kept staring at Josh, still doubtful, still unsure.

"Tyler," Josh whispered quietly. "Oh, Tyler."

And then, Josh's hand went to gently cup Tyler's cheek. Tyler shuddered at the unexpected move; he felt like his face was on fire, and Josh's hand was soft, so soft...

Before Tyler had time to fully comprehend what was happening, Josh closed his eyes and leaned in. Then Tyler felt Josh's lips on his own.

Josh was kissing him.

Josh was _kissing_ him.

 _Josh_ was _kissing_ him.

Tyler was so full of emotions that he couldn't move. His heart forgot what rhythm was, and he couldn't believe it was happening, he couldn't believe this...

Josh drew away slowly, and looked at Tyler. And Tyler thought he probably looked like a wreck, because Josh's face was full of concern.

"Tyler? Are you alright?"

Tyler blinked slowly, bringing himself back to reality.

"Yes. Yes, I am," he said in a slightly shaking voice and nodded. And then, sudden confidence overcame Tyler, and it was him who moved forward and kissed Josh's soft lips.

The kiss was long and slow. Josh's hand was cupping Tyler's cheek, and Tyler's hands slowly found their way into Josh hair, ruffling the strands gently with his fingers. Josh's lips were moving against Tyler's, and Tyler wanted to never, ever end this moment.

After they broke the kiss, neither of them spoke for a while. Tyler and Josh just sat on the roof in Tyler's favourite position. Tyler was resting his head on Josh's shoulder, and Josh was hugging him with one arm. They looked at the sky together, and Tyler felt so calm, and so happy.

"I was thinking about this," Josh broke the silence. "Perhaps, if you want to, you can switch rooms with my roommate. We just need to talk to the head teacher. If you want to, of course."

"Yes. Yes, I do want to," Tyler nodded, smiling.

"It's all settled then. We will go to him first thing at the morning," Josh grinned.

"Then... I guess, we should just wait for the morning here," Tyler said.

Josh didn't object.

They sat there, and the sky was getting lighter and lighter. It was almost sunrise, but Tyler didn't move. He won't go back to his room tonight, he won't.

When he came to college two months ago, he felt lonely, homesick and miserable. He lost his inspiration, his friends, his school band, his interest in life. He thought that while he's in college, he will never be content, he will never feel joy. 

Now, however, on the top of the roof, looking at the rising red sun with Josh, Tyler thought that he had never felt happier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of the main part of the story. Maybe I will post another chapter with short episodes and one-shots in this AU :)  
> Thank you for all the feedback, and I hope you enjoyed this story ^_^


End file.
